Growth Insights
Insights, strategies, and real-world lessons to help you build a smarter, stronger company
Conventional thinking suggests that we should build businesses by listening to the market and following demand. “You can only channel demand, not create it,” proclaimed legendary copywriter Eugene Schwartz in Breakthrough Advertising. Startups are encouraged to do the same: find demand rather than create it, and pivot quickly if your idea isn’t working. Y Combinator, […]
In my first career building an investment banking firm, I stumbled upon a hiring secret: recruiting former competitive athletes. I found them to have several attributes that were important to my business, and over time those attributes became a kind of pattern I could reliably bet on. The Hiring Secret I Learned in Investment Banking […]
Building a company is a long and arduous journey. It’s a process of trial and error—and the error parts can be unnerving and outright scary. Entrepreneurs who achieve any level of success have almost certainly lived through moments when the survival of their venture was at stake, and those moments tend to arrive with no […]
Ever look back and think, “If I’d only known that back then…”? That’s been the story of my entrepreneurial journey—a mix of trial, error, and the occasional forehead slap. After building and selling one company and coaching hundreds more, I’ve boiled it down to three lessons I wish I’d learned much earlier. 1. Find a […]
I’m not much of a card player—except for Dutch Blitz with my family over the holidays. (If you’ve never played it, try it!) I know the rules of poker too, but I almost never play. That said, one time I joined a Texas Hold’em tournament with about 50 fellow investment bankers… and somehow ended up […]
When we moved to America, my plan was to continue doing investment banking in a more promising market. Within weeks of arriving I landed my first two clients and thought I was on my way. Instead, they turned out to be the last two M&A clients we had here. A virgin hand often wins, as […]
What does it take to become a Trusted Advisor—the kind clients turn to when they need help improving their business, their life, and making difficult decisions? Prolific author and maestro of professional services David H. Maister suggests that technical knowledge is not enough. Clients judge professional service firms not only by technical quality but by […]
Legendary business coach Dan Sullivan coined the concept of The Gap and the Gain, later developed into a bestselling book co-authored with Benjamin Hardy. In this book, Sullivan and Hardy explore how entrepreneurs can burn out themselves and their teams by constantly seeing the glass as half empty—focusing on the Gap instead of celebrating the […]
Fear has long been described as the strongest motivator of all. When survival is at stake, nothing mobilizes energy and focus faster. This is why fear sells so effectively. From life and health insurance to diet programs, security systems, retirement plans, safe cars, and even cosmetics, fear has been the foundation of countless marketing strategies. […]
I recently listened to a podcast featuring David Heinemeier Hansson (DHH), the Denmark-born creator of the project management and team collaboration software Basecamp, as well as the author of Remote and Rework. During the conversation, he spoke about “manufacturing” a flow state as one of the key factors that allowed him and his co-founders to […]
As of July 4, 2025, it has been 248 years since Thomas Jefferson and 55 other freedom-loving Americans initiated the Declaration of Independence. This was not just a political statement—it was a bold act of defiance that came at a tremendous personal cost. Many of these leaders lost their property, their livelihoods, and in some […]
A business is a living organism. And just like any living thing, it needs its vital organs in top shape if it wants to survive—let alone achieve sustainable business growth. Some businesses are like single-season blooms—quick to appear, quick to fade. Think pandemic mask manufacturers: here one moment, gone the next. Others are seasonal blooms, […]
